For Toreros it's a one-game season now

For USD’s football team, the 2012 season comes down to one day, one game.

The Toreros (7-3, 6-1) take their five-game winning streak against Marist (4-6, 3-4 ) Saturday, Dec. 1 at noon Pacific time in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. It’s a make-up game that was postponed Nov. 3 due to the impacts of Hurricane Sandy.

Beat Marist, and the Toreros share the Pioneer Football League title with Butler and Drake.

Lose, and it’s been a nice season, but not a great season. For the Toreros, it will be their second straight PFL title if they beat Marist.

“It’s rewarding because of all the work we put in during the off-season and the fact we’re getting a chance to repeat as champs,” said junior quarterback Mason Mills, who has completed 229 of 327 passes this season for 18 touchdowns against 11 interceptions. “It makes everything we’ve done worth it.”

USD beat Davidson 17-10 last Saturday to set up the showdown with Marist. The team practiced Tuesday, but head coach Ron Caragher gave the team off until Sunday. They’ll return for one last week of practice, some bonus time due to the postponed Marist game. In a way it’s a warm-up for next year when the Pioneer Football League title will get an automatic bid in the Division I Football Championship playoffs.

“That’s how we look at it,” Caragher said. “Our young guys have been scrimmaging, and we’ll get seven extra practices out of this. That’s going to help us going into the off-season and in spring ball.”

Starting next year, the PFL winner will be placed in the 24-team bracket by the NCAA Football Championship selection committee along with 13 at-large qualifiers. The committee will select its eight national seeds which will receive first-round byes. The remaining 16 teams will then be placed in the bracket with an emphasis on geographical proximity.

Also next year, the PFL will expand to 12 teams. Mercer University in Georgia and Stetson University in Florida will be added to the league, the nation’s only non-scholarship, football-only NCAA Football Championship Subdivision conference.

“It’s another goal to fight for, to win the conference and play in the playoffs,” quarterback Mills said. “But right now, we’re concentrating on Marist. We’ll talk about next year’s playoffs after that game.”

Junior running back Joe Ferguson, who was named the PFL’s Offensive Player of the Week for gaining 170 yards and scoring two touchdowns in the 17-10 win at Davidson. He finished with 188 all-purpose yards filling in for freshman Dallas Kessman, who missed the game due to a concussion.

“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world right now,” Ferguson said. “Football is my life. I’m just glad Coach Caragher gives me the opportunity to be here on Manchester Field and practicing. I wish we had two, three more weeks to play.”

Caragher said Marist will be tough. Just like the Toreros, the Red Foxes have improved on defense as the season progressed. They’re playing very strong right now.

“Marist has a very solid defense,” Caragher said. “They have very physical safeties, good open-field tacklers. They have a really good defensive line, and they put pressure on the quarterback. They have a unique front. They play that 3-3 Rocky Long type defense, 3-3 stack, and it creates some confusion with the offense in terms of blocking and play assignments. That’s their strength. They play hard.”

USD’s games with Marist have been close lately, and Caragher expects another close one on Saturday. USD beat Marist 13-7 last year, 14-10 in 2010 and 17-10 in 2009.